A short boarding video from an American Airlines flight captures two things at once: a flight attendant sees a phone aimed at a woman in front of the camera and quickly checks whether the pair are traveling together, defusing what looks like a potentially creepy situation. But the same clip also fuels the familiar complaint about American’s onboard culture — the front-galley posture and tone read as “couldn’t care less,” even while she’s trying to do something genuinely situationally aware.
- A passenger is walking behind his wife, and a flight attendant at the front galley notices his phone is pointed at her backside.
- The crewmember asks the woman “are you two traveling together?”
- Once she confirms yes, she smooths it over with a line about “matching outfits,” that either either they were together, or randomly wearing similar clothes.
That’s the cover story for a fast safety check on a potentially creepy situation.
Look at both the attendants body posture there. No way they are even thinking of warm hospitality. Get ready to be looked down upon. pic.twitter.com/VtIJdaXDfe
— Janet™ (@Janet_sm145) March 3, 2026
There are basically see two big takes on what happened here.
- The flight attendant was alert and doing her job. The camera angle looks like a stranger filming the woman ahead of him. It’s creepy, and the flight attendant is proactive.
- But the flight attendants in the galley evince an unprofessional, ‘could’t care less’ boarding vibe. Coffee in hand, hand-in-pocket, the male crew member is totally disengaged with a look of judgment and disdain.
Flight attendants receive quick training on human trafficking. They think they’re experts, and usually just wind up using their prejudices.
Nonetheless, this video fuels the stereotype of American Airlines cabin crew. Broadly speaking, Asian carriers offer great service. You’ll get good crews from the Mideast. European legacy airline crews are more formal and polished than U.S. crews. And within the U.S.
- American Airlines flight attendants are the most likely to hate their jobs
- Southwest Airlines flight attendants have fun at work (though this has seemed less true, even before the recent cultural evisceration at the airline)
- Delta crew are proud of their airline and offer marginally better service
- Spirit crew are very informal, not pretending to offer polished service, but also come across as somehow honest
These are broad generalizations. I’ve had absolutely fantastic American Airlines crew and lousy Delta ones, and lackluster ones on Emirates too.
But culture, training and standards play a strong role. Southwest selects for personality, Singapore Airlines training is incredible, and Delta’s marketing gives flight attendants a story to be proud of (reinforced each Valentine’s Day profit sharing day).
So these passengers caught a fascinating interaction on numerous levels, without even realizing what had happened.
I can guarantee even the most lackluster Emirates crew won’t be standing at the door holding a Starbucks, while passengers are boarding. I doubt you’d see that on ANY airline anywhere outside of ‘Murica.
Gary, the Wall Street Journal today has a front page article “Airfares have doubled on some flights. The sticker shock for spring travel is upon us.” Yet you have not addressed the rapidly rising air fares at all. Isn’t that story more important than someone taking a picture on an airplane and the other fluff you’ve been running lately?
So funny. I literally just finished moments ago and American Airlines survey to business owners. My top gripes included lack of upgrades (despite EP status) and the hostile attitude of American flight attendants. Just like the scowls on these faces of FA’s in this story. They hate their job and make darn sure they communicate how much they dislike you, the customer.
@Andrew — This is View from the (right) Wing, after all, so what do you expect? (Gary be like; “Everything’s fine! Nothing to see here! *scrapes bottom of the barrel from Reddit/Twitter* Let’s punch-down on workers and leftists!”)
For broad generalizations, they sure are accurate! The customer service (or lack thereof) culture at AA almost seems hopelessly broken. Even the CK services seem halfhearted these days.
My question is this: what exactly will it take for a management and governance revolution? How far does it ultimately have to go?
Flight attendants are trained to spot human trafficking and she handled it perfectly. I could care less if she has a coffee in hand and hand in pocket. Only if she’s there to serve the first class cabin and doesn’t do PDBs, which we do not know.
The dude, hard to say. He just seems to be standing there but no evidence that he’s NOT DOING HIS JOB.
I love studying flight attendants on occasion. I can definitely say this crew was not being uptight and stuffy, maybe a little too casual but who knows what leg they may have been on by then, or what draining situation they may have had on a previous flight. I liked her and it just shows that once in a while the whole facade of the industry when people are not necessarily at their top notch mode of operation for what ever reason. I actually liked this crew all the same and can appreciate AA believe it or not. The Galley Guy perked up.
Now they are the phone police?
This is a little too much judgment. She’s doing her job. One would want to put passengers at ease with a laid back attitude.
Wait – He said “we work together”. If that’s the case, why is he filming her behind?
That seems inappropriate to me.
Good on the Flight Attendant, but it still seems sus to me.
I arrived at SCL this morning after two flights with AA (TPA-MIA, MIA-SCL) and found the FAs very pleasant to talk to and very professional in their work. Perhaps you AA haters are just having a bad day. And I’ve flown with AA many times over the years and never seen or had a problem with any of the crews.
Anything posted on This SIte is questionable at best and certainly nothing concerning AA should be believed as fact……………He HATEs AA and goes to great lengths to BASH the AIrline every chance he gets. His animosity is well known and most of The Employees are well aware of Him and His reputation………..you would think he would Move On at this point. He has ZERO Credibility with Me but then again I loathe any so proclaimed “Social Influencers” that wouldn’t know their collective *sses from a hole in the ground.
@Keith — Nice. Have a good time in Chile!
The smartphone camera was pointed at her back, not her backside. It captured her backside but also the top of her head. Capturing just waist up would not have given a good shot.
I actually find it creepy to have someone inject conversation in a situation where one of a couple is filming the other. I also wonder if the conversation would have taken place if the woman had been filming the man the same way.
Topic: Creepy Pictures. I was in a Grand Juror a while ago. One of the cases involved a guy that was taking underskirt pictures in subway stations in Manhattan. As a result, I was forced to watch a bunch. Unbelievably boring. I don’t get it.
AA has a long way to go to become a premium airline
The author dismisses flight attendants as people who get “quick training” and think “they’re experts.” At the same time, the author’s own bio describes himself as “one of the foremost experts in miles and points.” (From where? University of Gate Area Studies?)
In the video clip, the FA was textbook. She noticed a potentially uncomfortable situation, asked a quick question (of the woman, not the man with the camera — giving her agency… that’s training), confirmed the couple was together, then moved on with a quick de-escalating joke. All within a few seconds during boarding. That’s not overreach — that’s situational awareness and professionalism.
Maybe the flight attendants, like most of the employees of AA are frustrated by having hands tied, unable to give excellent service with demands of extra responsibilities. Like having so many passengers sign up for a credit card or face repercussions Or just tired of not being appreciated by upper management. Yes, they could find other jobs, but hope against hope, the culture at AA will go back to service with a smile
People, these days, film EVERYTHING. Yeah, it’s a bit creepy but there was no sinister videoing of the woman ahead of the man. The flight attendant was just doing her job. Nothing to see or report here. Just clickbait and filling up holes in the web site. In the words of Shakespeare, “Much ado about nothing!”
This is one of the dumbest, most poorly written stories I’ve read in a while. Almost not of it make sense. To assume the writer can sense the FA’s state of mind is non-sensical. A while it throws some deserved shade on American’s FAs, the racist comment about “asian” cablin crews is totally nuts.
I was on AA recently from BOS to MIA, and the first class FA was Asian, and the service was excellent. The authors keen awareness of the FA ethnicity and skills shows some real savvy.
Maybe if flight attendants were actually paid while boarding, they’d look like,e thy gave a damn.